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DUBAI,
UAE March 23 - An appeal was made yesterday to Muslim scientists and scholars to
use sound methods in deducting scientific meanings from the Noble Qur’an.
In
the opening ceremony of the Seventh International Conference on the Scientific
Signs in the Qur’an and Sunnah, Dr. Abdullah Al-Musleh, the Secretary General
of the International Commission on the Scientific Miraculous Nature in the
Qur’an and Sunnah said, “I implore you to transcend the stage of deducting
meanings [from the Qur’an] based on theory and assumption to reach the stage
of deducting meanings based on solid, nonnegotiable scientific facts.”
The
International Commission on the Scientific Miraculous Nature in the Qur’an and
Sunnah has been focusing lately on encouraging scientists to avoid pitfalls that
have been the focus of attack from several Islamic scholars around the world
regarding the large amounts of substandard research being produced in the field
of science in the Qur’an in the past few years.
Some
Muslim scientists, in the latest frenzy to give scientific meanings to verses in
the Noble Qur’an, have been developing new, sometimes futuristic, scientific
theories based on their own deductions of what certain Qur’anic verses might
mean. This could eventually result in a backlash by creating doubts in the
authenticity of the Noble Qur’an if these theories are eventually proven
false.
“Scientific
theories face the prospect of changing. If we provide meanings, not intended by
Allah, to the Qur’anic verses, the meanings of these verses would thus
simultaneously change, resulting in doubt and confusion,” explains Sheikh
Atiyyah Saqr, the Head of the Fatwa Commission in Al-Azhar University in a fatwa
provided to IslamOnline.net.
Al-Musleh
laid out the details of how Muslim scientists should go about their research
into scientific signs in the Noble Qur’an.
“There
must be clear evidence that points to the accuracy of the scientific sign being
researched in the Noble Qur’an or in the Sunnah of the Prophet; the scientific
fact should be linked to the Qur’anic verse in a clear and uncomplicated
manner; the meaning given to the verse should conform with that of the normal
meanings given to the verse according to the Arabic language; no research should
be done into that which is known only to Allah (al-ghayb); and the tafseer
(explanation of the meanings) of the Qur’an should be done by using the
Qur’an itself, the saheeh [authentic] Sunnah of the Prophet, the
inheritance provided by those that followed the Prophet, and finally by the
proper Arabic meaning of the words in the verse,” explained Al-Musleh.
The
conference opened today with an attendance of 750 people from around the world.
Among
this year’s attendees are 15 non-Muslim scientists from countries such as
Japan, the United States, France, and Germany, invited by the International
Commission on the Scientific Signs in the Qur’an and Sunnah to provide comment
on the solidness of the scientific evidence provided in this year’s
conference.
Dr.
Frances Beck, Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Internal
Medicine, Hematology and Oncology at Wayne State University in Detroit,
Michigan, believes that, although the presentations heard so far seem
interesting, there is a certain level of misinformation in some of the
presentations.
“Darwinism
and evolutionism as presented here in the conference, do not represent the
Western viewpoint…There seems to be a lack of communication between the West
and the East such that so much is misunderstood between both groups,” she
said.
Dr.
Beck also believed that, “if this is about miracles in the Qur’an and Sunnah
and how they relate to science, there should be more real science, because much
of what has been presented is not based on fact.”
Dr.
Annie Echassoux, an archeologist representing the Institute of Human
Paleontology in Paris, added that she fails to see the relation between the
scientific evidence produced and the Qur’an.
Nevertheless,
Al-Musleh announced in this morning’s session that a woman announced her Islam
today after witnessing the large presence of Muslim women clad in Islamic dress
attending the conference.
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